Vandal causes a stink at public outhouse at Cherry Springs
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POCATELLO — U.S. Forest Service employees are dealing with a stinky situation after someone repeatedly vandalized a public outhouse at the Cherry Springs day-use area.
On Facebook, the U.S. Forest Service Caribou-Targhee National Forest posted that someone has been cutting locks and throwing large boulders into the toilet’s storage tank.
“We are 100% boggled by why someone would want to watch boulders splash into poop-filled waters, but they do,” the agency said in the Facebook post.
It has happened at least two times over the past few weeks.
“We have people that pump those toilets and they couldn’t pump them out because there were two large rocks in them and we had to get someone to come in and remove the rocks so we could pump the toilet. Then we installed a new lock on it, and in the last few days, someone went back in and cut the lock and threw the boulders back in there,” said Sarah Wheeler, public affairs officer for the Caribou-Targhee National Forest.
Wheeler told EastIdahoNews.com that it’s frustrating because it costs money to clean it out, and it’s public land.
“There are a lot of good people that enjoy this area, and someone is ruining that opportunity for other people. I think people are unaware of the unintended consequences of their actions and the impact that it has on future uses, and so what they might perceive as a harmless joke … costs money and that’s taxpayers’ dollars,” Wheeler said. “It makes those sites unusable for people for a time, and then it forces us to use our financial resources where we have plans for other things. We get an allocated budget, and now we have to use money to fix things that weren’t a problem.”
Another forest service employee told EastIdahoNews.com that the agency and law enforcement have more patrols in the area.
If you have information on this incident or have seen anything suspicious, let the Westside District know by calling (208) 236-7500.